In January, the winds howled and the monsoon rains battered everything in their path. Moving curtains of rain made visibility poor. Crowns of raindrops spat and dug at our sandy lorongs, creating more potholes. Our farmers could not farm. Our fishermen could not fish. Our village river began to swell, a frightening sight to behold. Still the water level rose. Eventually, the Kallang River could not contain itself, and broke its banks. Potong Pasir was flooded again. Every year, the monsoon wreaked havoc in our village. Several factors made Potong Pasir vulnerable during the heavy rains: the location of the village in such a low-lying area right next to the fast-flowing river, the four large ponds, three springs called Pipe Besar, blocked monsoon drains, and poor drainage. Our village was known to be one of the worst flood-prone areas in Singapore. We had a huge flood in 1954 and this year’s flood was just as bad. Our country recorded six inches of heavy rainfall within a very short time.
We did not know we had another far worse flood still to come.
“Aiyyoh! Aiyyoh! Aiyyoh!” Uncle Krishnan cried in a voice announcing disaster as he beckoned us to come and watch the TV. “Come, come see the news!”
The American rocket, Apollo 1, was supposed to be launched in February at Cape Kennedy in the US, to attempt the first manned lunar landing. Unfortunately, during a launch rehearsal test on Friday, 27 January, the command module caught fire and killed all three astronauts: Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White II, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee.
The price for trying to be the first nation on the moon was high.
Independence also exacted a high price. It was one thing to be free, but it was no fun to be poor and to have to look after our country ourselves. When the British eventually withdrew their forces, we would be a country without any proper defence. It was imperative to build up our own military. On 13 March, Defence Minister Goh Keng Swee initiated a bill for mandatory conscription into National Service (NS) for all young men born between 1 January and 30 June 1949.
Officers from the People’s Association (PA) came to our village to explain to us what it entailed. The racial riots of the 1950s and 1960s had threatened to disrupt our social harmony, so the PA was formed in 1960 to act as an intermediary between the government and the people to explain government policies to ordinary folks, especially illiterate villagers. After the airport at Kallang was moved to Paya Lebar, the PA took over the airport’s control tower and terminal, to turn it into their headquarters. It was the PA who created the community centre in our village, for the villagers to have somewhere to go to for games and entertainment. This was where the PA officers gathered our eligible young men and their parents. Of course, the inquisitive people, kaypoh neighbours like us, turned up too.
“You know the British are planning to move out their military very soon,” the man called Mr Yap said in Hokkien, as his colleague, Suhaimi, translated what he said into Malay, and Ananda translated it into Tamil. “You remember the bombing across the road at Sennett Estate in 1963? That was the fifth bombing that year. In 1965, we had that terrible bombing at MacDonald House, National Library and Katong. Who is going to protect us from these kinds of things after the British pull out this year, huh? We have to build up our army and we have to train many more to take care of our security. Your life is precious to our gar’ment. We need to protect our sea so that our fishermen can fish, protect our airspace so that our aeroplanes can fly, protect our borders so we can all be safe. We are a tiny country, easily threatened by bigger countries. If we don’t recruit our young men, to train them in defence methods and warfare, we will be totally defenceless. Might as well let other countries just walk in and take control…”
Those of us listening started to murmur in agreement. NS made sense.
“The British tried to implement NS in 1954 but failed,” one of the villagers reminded everyone.
“Yes, because the British expected us to fight for them,” Suhaimi said. “But now, we are governing our own country. We will be defending ourselves and our own country, not some other foreign power.”
“True, true,” people murmured.
“But what will it mean for us?” young Ah Peng said. “If we join NS, does it mean we get tortured?”
“For what we torture you?” Mr Yap said with a slight note of exasperation. “We need you. We will help you build your body up to be strong. Of course, that’s hard work if you are not used to physical exertion. But you’re a farm boy, right, Ah Peng? You are used to carrying earth and heavy things, you won’t have difficulty in lifting a firearm.”
Ah Peng beamed. “Yah, no problem man!”
“No problem for me too,” said Ramasamy. “All day I carry bricks for construction.”
“But how we going to survive if you take away all our young men and they don’t work and don’t bring home money for our families, huh?” one parent asked.
“Don’t worry! Gar’ment will pay salary one. We supply free uniform and boots,” said Mr Yap, who cheered now that the proceedings had taken on a more positive note. “Give the boys free food and lodgings. First, we have registration. Second, on 30 August, on the day of enlistment, our army trucks will come here to pick up all the young men. We will have a little makan so your family can come and send you off. Third, after the new recruits have settled in, parents can go and visit them in their various camps.”
The same message
